Saturday, December 26, 2009

Turtle doves . . . but no Y2K bug . . .

On the second day of Christmas 2000, while it seemed the whole world was stocking up on supplies in preparation for the new millennium, I was admiring the two turtle doves my true love gave to me . . .

This year, on the second day of Christmas we've had LOTS of snow . . . Au revoir, sweet herb pots! See you next spring!

And on this second day of Christmas we made our Cuban Christmas dinner. We have two menus that we rotate on Christmas Eve: The Beef Filet dinner and the Cuban Pork Roast dinner. This year, by majority vote, the Filet won, but there were some disappointed diners, including my son, David. The debate went on all the way to the cash register at the grocery store, so we also bought the fixings for the Cuban menu. Today, we had our second Christmas dinner. David and Lee alternated shoveling snow throughout the day, while visions of black bean soup danced in their heads. John was so disappointed to miss the fun - he had to go to work!

Here is the menu: Roast loin of pork, black bean soup, on a bed of fluffy white rice and yuca con mojo (more on this later). There is a lot of garlic in this menu, no vampires are going to be sneaking up on us tonight, that's for sure! The roast is prepared by inserting garlic slivers in slits cut all over the roast, then the pork is roasted in a citrus marinade.
The black bean soup also calls for several cloves of garlic. At the table, Cubans like to drizzle a little more olive oil and wine vinegar over the beans. Lately I've been using balsamic vinegar, which adds a little more depth. Then, this year, my friend, Sandy, gave me a bottle of Fig Balsamic Vinegar for Christmas, and . . . well, let's just say that it's taken this recipe to a whole new level. I'll never go back!

Yuca is the root of the cassava or yucca plant and has a texture similar to the potato. It's served boiled and drizzled with mojo, a dressing made from garlic, sautéed in extra virgin olive oil and made to sizzle with the addition of fresh lime juice. The dressing is poured over the yuca and turns this simple tuber into something sublime.